the glam clam meat slam

about a month ago, the girls and i decided we wanted to have one ~last blow out before we all went our separate ways over christmas. and considering this is the group of girls that usually brings you the likes of musical bingo and gospeloke and pirate walking tours and mean girls ~anything, we knew we wanted to do something a litttttle bit quirky. but what? there was talks of elf the musical (until we saw the price), hiring a booth at night tales (until we saw the price), a muppets christmas carol at the pcc (until it totally sold out three months ago), but nothing that really got us well and truly excited. until charlie suggested the glam clam.

billed as london's newest and most glamorous pop-up dining experience, and with a five-course menu designed by the incredible gizzi erskine and real-life drag show on the cards, it was decided! nothing sounded more fitting for a bunch of bloggers than a night out with some queens. problem was, not everyone was down for the purely-seafood menu, so a compromise was reached: dinner and cocktails in camden, followed by the show and drinks with the queens at the glam clam afterwards. perfect!

problem was, when you're buying tickets in bulk or making a group booking in a restaurant, someone needs to be in charge. of the money, i mean. with deposits here and booking fees there - not to mention wanting to make sure we all got a table together, it became apparent we needed a simple way of booking things in bulk, while ensuring everyone paid there bit. enter: kiTTi. launched earlier this year by santander, the kiTTi app allows you and your friends to contribute your own share of a whole sum into one group - err, well, kitty. once you hit your target amount, you activate the cash card that comes in the post once you've download the app, and then you're off!

our first stop on saturday night was q grill in camden. we had an early booking, to ensure we made it to the clam in time, so met there at just after five. the cocktail menu was ~exceptional to say the least, with a grill menu so extensive that none of us could decide on our meals. eventually, i went with the chargrilled butterfish starter with chilli jam and greens (which was incredddddible), with a half rack of ribs for mains (which were a let down after the amazing starter dish), and a couple of peach cobbler cocktails to wash it all down. two out of three aint bad, really. for two hours it was a lot of asking to turn the lights up then whipping out the phone torches for better quality photos, but the staff were very good about it. blogger problems, eh.

and then it was show time! we walked from camden to tufnell park (far, fyi) and took our seats - front and (almost) centre for the show to begin. we were instantly captivated by the diva that is collette cooper's soulful jazz vocals while the other patrons dined on madam erskine's fishy fare, and waited with bated breath for the queens to do their thang. having never been to a real drag show before (though being a masssssive fan of rupaul and her many drag races), i didn't really know what to expect.

the queens' presence during the show was super distracting - but in a totally ~good way. they prowled the tables, looking for diners to chat with, dance with, maybe make out with, and it was way more fascinating to watch than the solo diva working her magic on stage with a clam. don't get me wrong, she was fierce, but those queens were ~fabulous.

after the main course, the spotlight flipped from collette to the queens ~for real, and that's where the real fun began. it's only a shame that it happened so late in the show, because if i didn't have so far to travel home, i would have stayed out and partied with these ladies all night! with classics from whitney to shirley and tina to queen b (barbara, natch), there was not a single bum on seat while the queens performed - rightly so! so maybe we were six bottles of wine in, but we were having the best time. so what if the queens brought us shots on the house, because we were the rowdy table. who cares if strangers chose to dance with us, because we were more fun than their own friends. so what if we got on stage (again) during the can can, and then refused to leave. don't they know who we are? no? well, i'm not surprised.

genuinely, we had the absolute best time, with the absolute best crowd, at the absolute best show in town.

a massive thanks to santander for helping make it happen, via their kiTTi app.